[Graewoulf]

Would you be so kind as to spot on a Moon map the site of the basalt flow that Catholic Monks in Italy witnessed in the 1600’s? They saw the red glow for a couple of days. I do not know if it too was due to an impact, or just normal flow of focused heat energy (ie, a volcano).

[LibWhacker]

I'm sorry, I can't. I've never heard of it. I did a quick search and could only come up with this:

“Now there was a bright new [thin crescent] moon, and as usual in that phase its horns were tilted toward the east and suddenly the upper horn split in two. From the midpoint of this division a flaming torch sprang up, spewing out, over a considerable distance, fire, hot coals, and sparks. Meanwhile the body of the moon, which was below, writhed ... like a wounded snake.”

But that description came from some Canterbury monks in 1178 AD. I think most astronomers today believe the monks witnessed the effects of the impactor that created the Bruno Crater on the far side of the Moon, at least such effects as were visible to them on the near side.

But I'll keep looking!

[LibWhacker]

Okay, just came across this: There are no active volcanic features on the Moon. Most of the volcanic activity took place early in the Moon's history, before about 3 billion years ago. The most recent lava flow occurred about 1 billion years ago. .

Interesting, no? It means there can't have been any basaltic flows due to volcanism on the moon in the 17th Century. Which means... the flow, if it happened, would have to have been caused by an impact of some kind.

But that is a problem because even the Chicxulub impactor 65 million years ago on Earth (where molten material is much closer to the surface than on the moon) didn't cause balsaltic flows. And that asteroid was miles across. It's a pretty safe bet that no such impact has happened on the moon during historical times. imho only.